


Everyone Will Know My Name

by Jathis



Series: King Cedric [5]
Category: Sofia the First (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Childhood Trauma, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Forgiveness, Imprisonment, M/M, Men Crying, Scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:20:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28043823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jathis/pseuds/Jathis
Summary: A year has passed and Roland makes a decision
Relationships: Baileywick/Cedric the Sorcerer
Series: King Cedric [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2051343
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Everyone Will Know My Name

He found Roland staring out the window of his office. The king’s expression was grim, his arms crossed over his chest. He cleared his throat, gently rapping the doorframe with his knuckles to draw his attention. “Sire?”

“Tomorrow is going to be a year since it happened,” Roland said.

Baileywick stepped further into the room, shutting the door. “I hear the people intend on making it a day of mourning for the people who died,” he said. “I’ve seen several floral memorials being built.”

“That makes sense. There’s no other way to treat tomorrow…”

“You don’t believe that,” Baileywick noted.

“...no, I don’t.”

“What are your thoughts, Sire?”

Roland ran his hand over the side of his neck. A ring of white scars circled it, a reminder of the choke collar Cedric had forced him to wear while chained to his throne. The sorcerer had not been shy about putting it to use. “I don’t know what I’m going to do about him. He caused so much damage to Enchancia. There are so many scars…”

“I am sure the people will be behind you with whatever decision you make, your Majesty.”

“I’m not so sure of that,” Roland sighed.

“Well,  _ I  _ shall support whatever decision you make,” Baileywick offered, moving to stand beside Roland. 

Roland was silent a moment, staring down at the land below. He finally turned his head to look at Baileywick and asked, “what if I have him executed tomorrow? Would you support me then?”

“You’re my king,” Baileywick reminded him, his expression passive. “Whatever you say is law. I know that some have found my trips down there odd but I support you, Sire. I doubt anyone else would have allowed such a thing.”

He sighed, shoulders falling. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. A part of me wants to kill him. Another part wants to keep him down there to rot. But then there is another that remembers the time before this happened and I just…” Roland shook his head mournfully. “I have to keep the people in mind. I cannot make a decision based solely on myself. He hurt them the most.”

“And that is why I am proud to serve you,” Baileywick said. “I trust you. Your family trusts you. The people trust you. We know you’ll do what is right.”

“I hope so,” Roland whispered.

***

He was lying on his side, dozing off in the light that came through his window. The window had become his only way of knowing that time was passing. Baileywick refused to tell him dates anymore, insisting that Cedric focus on the here and now.

He heard someone approaching his cell and he slowly opened his eyes. Seeing Baileywick was the only time he felt human again. He pushed himself up into a sitting up position and turned to the opening door with a smile.

Cedric’s smile left him when he saw Roland standing there, Baileywick nowhere to be found. “Roland…”

“Hello, Cedric.”

He curled in on himself without realizing he was doing it. He hugged his knees to his chest, hunching his shoulders as he watched Roland. “Why is King Roland down here to see me? Shouldn’t you be up there being adored by everyone? Won't the sun stop shining if it cannot see your face?”

“Cedric…” Roland sighed and shook his head. He stepped further into the room, keeping his distance from the chained man. “How could you? I never thought you were capable of doing  _ anything  _ like that!”

“You never thought I was capable of anything,” Cedric huffed, his hands shaking as he finally said what he had always felt aloud. “I remember when we were children! You and my sister could never do anything wrong! But did anyone notice when I did something right? No! They only noticed when I made a mistake!”

Was this man really trying to justify his actions with things done so long ago?! Roland stormed forward, hands balled into fists. “You made a lot of mistakes, Cedric!”

He forgot that he could not stand up in his chains. Cedric lunged and gagged himself on his collar as the chain connected to it held him back. “So did you!” he snarled, curling his lip in disgust at Roland. He pointed an accusing finger at the other, the manacle biting into his wrist and drawing blood. “You made just as many mistakes! Maybe more!”

“My mistake was allowing you to become the royal sorcerer!”

“And mine was believing I could ever win your approval!”

The two men glared at each other, their bodies trembling with barely controlled rage. Roland was the first to calm down, loosening his hands. He took a step back from Cedric, willing himself to control his emotions. A king must always be in control.

“Cedric,” he said, “I can understand being angry at me but why my children? Why Miranda? They’ve never done anything to you to deserve what happened.”

The former sorcerer fell back into a sitting position, blood dribbling from the open sores on his wrists and ankles from his attempt to get at Roland. “Why do you think I sent them away?” he asked.

“You attacked them in the first place.”

“Only because they would have threatened my claim to the throne,” he said. “I never intended on hurting them. I sent them away with those servants before breaking the Medusa Stone  _ because  _ I had no quarrel with them. It was safer for them.”

“You freed them and kept Baileywick and me.” Roland’s hand went up to his throat again, touching one of the scars there. “You had me chained up like a dog.”

“Only a small taste of how I have felt all these years!”

“And Baileywick still believes in you after what you did to him. He doesn’t say it openly but I know he believes you can change.”

He fell silent at that. Thinking about Baileywick made his eyes water. “I wanted him to swear loyalty to me. That was all he had to do and I would have released him.”

“Baileywick could never swear his loyalty to someone who was plotting to steal the throne. How long had you been plotting this, Cedric? How many times did you smile in my face while plotting behind my back?”

“Do you know what it’s like? Being told you’re a failure for twenty-seven years?” Cedric countered.

“Cedric…”

“I was a  _ child _ , Roland! I was a child when that accident happened! It branded me for the rest of my life!”

“You could have overcome that accident and proven yourself,” Roland countered. “You could have done something great to earn the title.”

“How could I when I was always asked to do tricks for children? You treated me like a jester and even then you spoke to me in a way not even a jester is spoken to! You never once asked me to do something without prefacing it with ‘please try to’ and ending it with ‘don’t mess it up this time’! You always rolled your eyes when I did something. I was never good enough for you. How can I try to do anything great when everyone expects me to fail before I begin?”

“You hurt an entire kingdom to get revenge on me. Why couldn’t you focus your anger on me? Why the kingdom? Why Sofia?” Roland asked.

Cedric wrapped his arms around his knees. He buried his face between them, his shoulders shuddering as he struggled to control himself. “Only an eight year old and my niece believed in me,” he whispered. “Do you know what that’s like? Having two children believe in you and no one else? Having everyone bring up your father for everything you do?”

No, no Roland could not say that he knew what it was like to have no one believe in him. He had always been compared to his father but no one had ever treated him like a failure. He was encouraged and pushed to be the best he could be for Enchancia.

The young prince could do no wrong and Roland knew that he had done things that were overlooked because of his father. He couldn’t imagine having his achievements ignored and his mistakes put under a looking glass for all to see.

“Cedric, look at me,” he gently ordered. He waited until the man slowly raised his head, looking at him with red rimmed eyes. “Your quarrel was with me and no one else. You lashed out at my wife and children. I cannot be the only one to decide what happens to you. It wouldn’t be right.”

He watched as Roland closed the gap between them, flinching when the king reached out to him.

***

Miranda and the three children were in the throne room when the doors opened. She was the first to stand up, frowning in concern as Roland came in, followed closely by another. Her eyes widened when the figure came into the light and she immediately moved to stand in front of the three children, braced for anything.

Cedric had always been thin; his year in the dungeon had made him thinner despite Baileywick’s best efforts. He was paler, dark rings under his eyes. He had allowed his bangs to grow and they now hung just below his chin, a natural waviness to his normally short hair showing.

The former sorcerer stood in front of the four, his wrists and ankles in chains lest he try anything. His eyes flicked over to Sofia and he immediately looked away, unable to look at the girl. He dropped to his knees and bowed down until his forehead was touching the ground. He held his hands out in front of himself, clasping them together in supplication.

“Roland?” Miranda asked, looking at her husband as he approached her.

“I’m not the only one his actions hurt,” he softly told her, placing a comforting hand on the small of her back. “His actions hurt all of us and he should be dealt with by all of us.”

The queen considered his words before nodding in agreement. “I think you’re right,” she said. She turned to the children, especially Amber. “You will be queen one day. Such things will be something you have to do every day,” she said.

Amber nodded, glancing over at Sofia and James. She closed her eyes, thinking of what should be done. She opened her eyes when she came to a decision. “Take him out of the dungeon,” she said. “Let him stay above ground. He’s been down there for a year.”

“He cannot leave the castle and if he wants to go out on the lands surrounding it he needs to have someone with him,” James added. “Going to Dunwiddie is forbidden.” He blushed when Amber smiled at his addition, feeling a bit proud of himself.

Sofia stared at the prone figure, saying nothing.

“Sofia?” Roland gently asked.

“What are you thinking, sweetheart?” Miranda asked. “We know you spent the most time with him before…”

The princess approached the kneeling figure without a word. She looked down at him, watching the way his clasped hands trembled ever so slightly. “Mr. Cedric?” she asked. He flinched as if she had struck him, keeping his forehead firmly pressed to the floor. “Mr. Cedric, look at me?”

“I can’t, child.”

“Please?”

“I can’t.”

She watched as the trembling of his hands slowly got worse. She reached down and pulled on his arms, forcing him to slowly sit up and look at her. Tears fell down his cheeks, eyes focused on the floor. She touched his chin and forced him to look at her.

Her Amulet started to glow as she held his gaze. She could feel magic flowing from the Amulet into herself. Her hand started to glow with the built up magic and she touched Cedric’s collar. It broke in half, leaving behind the furiously red wound around Cedric’s throat from where it had been.

“I missed you, Mr. Cedric,” she said.

A sob escaped him. He buried his face in the bottom of her dress, his entire body shuddering. “I’m so very very very very very very sorry!” he choked out.

Sofia hugged him, letting him cry on her dress. “I missed you, Mr. Cedric. We all did.”

***

He made a point of checking his pocket watch when the other stepped into the room. “Two minutes late,” Baileywick said. He shut his watch with a louder than necessary click, giving him a look.

The sorcerer huffed, pouting as he sat across from the other at a table. “I had to finish a potion.” 

“A likely story.” The steward had made up two plates of food for supper using the extra food made for the royal dinner. He watched as Cedric picked up his cup, drinking from it. “How does your throat feel?”

“It’s getting better,” he said. The wound around his throat had become infected and the healers had needed to remove dead skin that held on. There was a brief panic that the infection could spread and make him sicker but it was dealt with. It was wrapped in a bandage for now, soaked in medicine for the pain.

“I’m glad,” he said, placing a hand over Cedric’s. He smiled when Cedric held onto it, running a comforting thumb over the back of his hand. “I’m really glad, Cedric.”

Cedric smiled timidly, still getting used to being back in the castle as the royal sorcerer. “Sentimental old man,” he whispered.

“Yes, but this old man made your plate so unless you want me to take it away…” They laughed together, a feeling of warmth shared between them.


End file.
